We’re talking about arrogance justified, arrogance rooted in achievement, which, thinking about it, isn’t the worst character trait of all.

These current Lakers also are the reigning league champions. So when one of them says they absolutely, unequivocally control their own fate regardless of what their opponents do, it becomes doubly needling because…

They’re right.

It’s undeniably true. This remains the Lakers’ world, with every other NBA team just sort of here in case Kobe Bryant breaks his leg or he and his teammates lose interest.

That’s what we learned in Game 5 of this opening-round series. When the Lakers choose to play hard, really play hard, when they opt to unleash their “raw energy,” as Phil Jackson called it, they are still the best team in the NBA.

Playing like they did Tuesday in smacking around their little brothers from Oklahoma City, the Lakers would beat every team that qualified for this postseason. Last postseason, too.

Only Cleveland – with size inside and title-starving LeBron James everywhere else – could possibly match what the Lakers just displayed at Staples Center.

Any epic encounter with the Cavaliers, however, remains weeks away. For now, we’ll have to be content observing the Lakers alone and trying to forecast when they’ll decide to invest half their hearts again.

How a team can consistently go from hard to catch to hard to watch is another mystery altogether. After Game 5, Jordan Farmar was asked why the Lakers can’t play with that amount of desire every game.

“We ask,” Farmar said, “the same question.”

It’s amazing that a team wouldn’t learn its lesson, right? How can the Lakers not understand the unacceptability of playing as indifferently as they did in Game 4 against the Thunder?

Well, the truth is, the Lakers have learned their lesson. During Jackson’s tenure here – four championships, remember – this franchise has learned it can advance even while occasionally no-showing when the games really matter.

It isn’t the most endearing quality, this idea of the Lakers on occasion giving it some of what they’ve got. You’re supposed to be all-in, not some-in. But if winning titles really is all that matters, maybe the rest of it isn’t worth the hand-wringing.

The good news is Jackson’s Lakers teams usually don’t lose close games in the playoffs. The bad news is, when they do lose, they often do so spectacularly.

Of the 52 postseason losses for Jackson’s Lakers, more than half – 28 – have been by double-digits. Of those 28, 17 have been by at least 15 points.

Jackson’s Lakers have lost by 39 to Boston in the Finals (2008), by 33 to Indiana in the Finals (2000) and by 28 three times – threetimes! – at various points in various postseasons.

There also have been these meltdowns so forgettable they cannot be forgotten:

In 2000, the Lakers had a chance to close out the Suns in Phoenix – and trailed 71-48 at halftime. Afterward, Jackson refused to answer questions, abruptly ending his “news” conference with, “Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there.”

Barely a week later, against Portland at home, the Lakers had a chance to go up two games to none – and scored eight points in the third quarter. Following the 106-77 loss, Jackson called the quarter “a morass.”

In the first round in 2006, in Game 7 no less, the Lakers lost 121-90 at Phoenix when Bryant attempted only three second-half shots. “We didn’t come to play,” Lamar Odom said. “It’s a shame,” Jackson added.

Then last season, in the second round, after beating Houston by 40 points at home, the Lakers went on the road, fell behind 17-1, quit and heard their coach summarize afterward, “We had nothing.”

So now another close-out game arrives, the Lakers returning to the site of their most recent no-show. The Ford Center could be more like the Ford Clinic, the visitors in need of counseling.

Asked after Game 5 what carried his team to its impressive bounce-back victory, Odom said, “second and third effort.” This was most notable coming off Game 4, when the Lakers generally failed to give first effort.

Will they win Friday? Will they finally rid themselves of the Thunder? Will they move a step closer to defending their title?

All that’s up to the Lakers. They know it and now so does everyone else.

It’s their world, at least as far as the Western Conference extends. That’s what the Lakers have earned, even if they haven’t always been glorious in earning it.

Jeff Miller has been a sports columnist since 1998, having previously written for the Palm Beach Post, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald. He began at the Register in 1995 as beat writer for the Angels.

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